How State Farm Brought Gamerhood to Dream Con

State Farm Gamerhood gathers popular streamers, gamers, and content creators for a live gaming showdown that raises money for charity. The event spans many genres, includes games and anime gaming segments, and turns regular collaborations into competitive matches. The fifth season premieres on July 31 at 6:00 p.m. ET, featuring creators from streaming, entertainment and culture such as IShowSpeed, PlaqueBoyMax, Cinna, Marlon, JasonTheWeen, Emiru and Jake from State Farm.

During Dream Con this year, Gamerhood hosted the convention’s “gatekeep” activity right after the opening ceremonies. Creators answered trivia covering pop culture, gaming, anime and State Farm’s history. The session produced hilarious wrong guesses, a fight over pronunciation, and a debate about Avatar: the Last Airbender that nearly sparked a cosplayer takeover of the stage.

Besides the stage events, Anime Corner interviewed Berleezy and Krystalogy— who earned the winner’s key at the Dream Con Gamerhood event— as well as RDCWorld’s founding member Mark Phillips. We talked with them about previous Gamerhood seasons, how those experiences shaped their streaming outlook, and which anime characters they would bring onto their team for the competition.

Gamerhood Takes the Stage

The onstage Gamerhood contest was a quiz‑style battle where pairs of streamers moved on a game board, aiming for four spaces forward. Each spot matched a category (e.g., pop culture, anime) that linked to a specific trivia question; answering correctly allowed progress. Landing certain squares unlocked “hacks” that gave teams unique advantages or let them pass a debuff onto rivals—like having to retreat several spaces or finish a mini‑challenge, sometimes as simple as complimenting the other players.

The most talked‑about early query was “What is the name of Thor’s hammer?” RDCWorld’s Mark Phillips gave a near‑correct answer but mispronounced it, prompting host Khleo Thomas and the crowd to reject it and award no points, which sparked a humorous on‑screen argument. Most anime questions, which leaned heavily on series such as Pokémon and even asked for Professor Oak’s name, were answered correctly. The author wished for newer anime questions to differentiate creators who truly watch the shows from those who just cosplay online.

The anime‑related question that caused the biggest upset was the age at which the Avatar is told they are the Avatar in Avatar: the Last Airbender. The conventional answer is 16, but the wording confused many because Aang was told earlier due to war and Korra could already bend three elements as a toddler. When Thomas declared 16, the crowd erupted, several fans with microphones argued the point, and the audience largely rejected the answer, which the author blamed on the question’s phrasing.

Interviewing Berleezy, Krystalogy, & Mark Phillips

Phillips opened the conversation by addressing his recent string of Gamerhood losses, specifically whether the game seemed rigged against him. He replied honestly, saying, “I don’t think it’s rigged against me. I think it’s just fun for people to be like, ‘Mark, no, no, no,’ that’s all. … They like to pick on me, bro. That’s a better way to put it.”

Both he and Krystology reflected on their careers as content creators, especially as creators of color. When asked what they would tell a person of color looking to enter cosplay, content creation or streaming, Krystology advised resilience: “You got to block out the noise. There’s always going to be that inherent racism you deal with online. But you just got to push through, because there’s space for us, there’s community for us, and you just got to ignore them.”

Phillips strongly agreed, calling “block out the noise” a perfect first step. He shared that early on, when he began making videos (not yet streaming), he felt unsupported by people he knew, but strangers from other cities eventually started cheering him on. He urged newcomers not to take that negativity to heart, noting that everyone is initially scared of the unknown, but it’s becoming more acceptable now. “So just start and be consistent and be creative,” he added.

Krystology noted that Gamerhood features plenty of trash talk during recordings, yet also offers fresh collaboration chances. “These are sometimes streamers I haven’t worked with before, so Gamerhood is a really fun place to get to know them and play new stuff. And yeah, there’s always competition, but it’s healthy competition.”

When asked which anime characters they’d want on their Gamerhood team, Phillips kept his focus on trivia, saying, “If I had to pick one anime character to help me win, that one, I’d pick L. He ain’t going to, he know everything.” Krystology chose a more hands‑on ally: “I would want someone who’s positive, so Naruto.” Phillips joked back, “She about to take an L like me. To keep it a buck.”

Berleezy, who joined the press later, talked about his participation. “Gamerhood is almost like an arena where people can do what they already do, but for a reason and also for a good cause. Any Gamerhood season brings a special energy—it’s friendly, it’s a good cause, but there’s something on the line. Having that at Dream Con has been fun because we get a mix of creators: PlaqueBoyMax doing the music, JasonTheWeen, Cinna, all these different creators. IShowSpeed, right? It’s a place for us to compete in a fun, controlled way. Sometimes you need to get to know creators before doing content, but Gamerhood lets you focus on skills—physical gaming, how badly you want it. I’ve got two keys. I’m a veteran of Gamerhood now, and not only Ludwig can say that—pretty cool.”

Berleezy also recounted a funny moment when Phillips helped Berleezy and Krystology with trivia answers, but separately (jokingly) accused Berleezy of betraying him for not teaming up more. Berleezy explained, “Mark Phillips will make a plan and then say you fumbled the plan, even if you never agreed to it. He could come to you and say, ‘Hey, bro, we’re going to be on a team and I’m gonna get that key.’ I’d be like, ‘What?’ and he assumes that means yes, we’re teaming. That’s what happened on stage; he acted like I betrayed him. From the jump, I told Krysta it was going to be me and her. He never even brought it to me. Mark’s a liar! He doesn’t deserve— no, Mark is cool. That’s my boy. We’ve been— it’s like a 10‑year friendship now. My first creator friend, too. So it’s easy for him to pull cards like that.”

When asked which anime character he’d like on his Gamerhood team, Berleezy paused briefly but gave a resolute answer. “One anime character that I would have to be a part of my team? I need a dog. I’m gonna go. Yusuke Urameshi, Yu Yu Hakusho. He just, he could not lose, bro. He just does not take losses.”

Looking Forward to Gamerhood

Dream Con offered a great chance to see a live version of the pre‑recorded, but in‑person Gamerhood events. It was a perfect kickoff after the opening ceremonies, and the packed room showed how much attendees wanted it. As mentioned earlier, the fifth season of Gamerhood premieres July 31 at 6:00 p.m. ET. You can watch it on the official State Farm Twitch channel, the State Farm YouTube channel and many of the players’ own channels.

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